Dreamers & Doers: Tracee Worley: How Imagination Today Creates a Better Tomorrow

May 13

PlayFull Podcast Interview - Kristine Michie - Tracee Worley

Dreamers & Doers: Tracee Worley: How Imagination Today Creates a Better Tomorrow

What happens when we treat imagination as a form of resistance and ask, “What if everything goes right?” In this conversation, we explore matriarchal futures, women as the largest holders of wealth, and how play, artifacts, and design can help us midwife a more just world into being.

In this episode, Kristine Michie speaks with Tracee Worley, a futurist and experience designer, about how imagination helps people and communities navigate uncertainty and shape the future. They explore the growing economic influence of women, the impact it could have on leadership and funding, and Tracee’s work creating “artifacts from the future” through projects like “Letters from the Future” and Seneca Falls 2048. The conversation also touches on play, community trust, and why imagination is a practical, collective tool for building what comes next.

Key Takeaways:

By 2035, women in the United States are projected to be the largest holders of wealth, which could significantly shift what gets funded, supported, and brought to life.
Creating “artifacts from the future” is a powerful way to materialize bold, liberatory visions and make distant possibilities feel tangible in the present.
Imagination can function as a survival tool and a form of resistance, especially for those historically denied power, allowing them to claim a seat at the table where the future is being made.
Charging for visionary and movement-aligned work while using sliding scales and values-based pricing honors both the labor involved and the emotional, spiritual value participants receive.
Play lowers the stakes, quiets the fear response, and helps adults access deeper imagination, but it must be grounded in trust, especially in communities carrying active harm and historical trauma.

"Imagination is also a form of resistance. It is a way for me to claim a seat at the table where the future is getting made, and we all have the ability to do that." — Tracee Worley

"No future is already written. It's up to us at any given moment to decide the dream that we want to move towards." — Tracee Worley

"Play shuts off the fear response, so that imagination can actually happen when you're playing." — Tracee Worley

More About Tracee Worley:

Tracee Worley is an experiential futurist and designer dedicated to "midwifing" more just and imaginative worlds into being. As the Founder and Creative Director of Radical Futures, she creates immersive, participatory experiences that help individuals and organizations move beyond traditional planning toward a practice of collective dreaming.

Drawing on a rich background in design strategy and cultural insight—including work with IDEO and Emerson Collective—Tracee specializes in creating "artifacts from the future." Through projects like Seneca Falls 2048, she uses worldbuilding and play to bypass the brain’s fear response, allowing people to rehearse possible futures and claim their seat at the table where the future is made.

Her work is grounded in the belief that imagination is not a luxury but a vital form of resistance and a survival tool for navigating uncertainty. Tracee’s practice sits at the intersection of strategy and social transformation, helping communities turn "what if" into tangible, liberatory action.

Connect with Tracee Worley:

Website: https://radicalfutures.studio/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traceeworley/

Connect with Kristine:

The PlayFull Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-playfull-podcast-with-kristine-michie-bringing-fun/id1676838213?action=write-review

Website: https://www.impactfullinc.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactfull_inc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-breese-michie/

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